Chapter 79
Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Murong Family Head - 3
Do I know about the Heavenly Slaughter Star?
Of course I know.
Back in my school days, the number of martial arts novels I collected that featured the Heavenly Slaughter Star could have easily filled a bed.
"The Heavenly Slaughter Star? What's that, So-hee?"
Kang Yun-ho knows nothing.
"I have a story to tell, from the Heavenly Slaughter Star up until that day ten years ago."
So-hee began explaining about the child born once every hundred years with the energy of the Heavenly Slaughter Star. I knew some of it, but I could now understand exactly what the setting for the Heavenly Slaughter Star was in this world.
"That day ten years ago. When the Japanese pirates came. Everything was dying. The villagers, my father, my mother... and... me too."
So-hee forced herself to recall the past she didn't want to remember, making a pained expression.
"You too, So-hee?"
"That day. The day everything died. The energy that had been sleeping inside me, who had died, revived me. And it took revenge for me."
So-hee closed her eyes and breathed heavily. Was she reliving the shock of that day? Her chest trembled.
"So that energy you said was sleeping..."
"Yes. I am the child born with the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star."
So-hee confessed to me with a tormented face.
"You... are the Heavenly Slaughter Star?"
I made a face like someone who just found out a delinquent chaebol heir is actually a person who does neighborhood watch activities in special gear at night.
So-hee nodded and told the story of how she went to find a Heaven's Diviner, said to be the best at reading fate in the Central Plains, to find a solution for the killing intent.
"He said if I met a Noble Person, my fate might change."
"A Noble Person?"
"One who defies the fate of heaven. One who returned from death after fulfilling heaven's mandate. One who can even change the fate of others. A person outside the way of heaven."
"That sounds like an amazing person. Just hearing about it makes it seem like they could save your fate."
That's usually the fate of protagonists in novels or games.
So-hee didn't respond to my words and just stared at me intently.
Why does she keep staring at me?
A gaze that feels like it's reproaching me for pretending not to know.
Could it be...
"The Noble Person the Heaven's Diviner spoke of. That's you, Yun-ho."
What?
Without giving me time to be surprised, So-hee continued her story in succession.
During the Cheongsa Sect incident, when she came to kill me, consumed by the Heavenly Slaughter Star's killing intent, but the killing intent disappeared in front of me—a chilling story even now.
How she was shocked to realize her Noble Person was Yun-ho.
How she was happy not to live just to control the Heavenly Slaughter Star's killing intent, but to live as Cheon So-hee.
How the range where the killing intent disappears was gradually shrinking, and she had been in despair today.
"So-hee. Wait a minute. Please wait."
It's dizzying. I needed to stop So-hee's words for a moment and organize my thoughts.
"Okay. I talked too much, didn't I?"
So-hee suddenly became dejected and hung her head.
"No. Just a moment. Really, just a moment. Give me time to organize my thoughts."
To summarize So-hee's words:
The effective range is shrinking rapidly, but if she's next to me, the killing intent is nullified.
She can live as an ordinary woman.
'This... there's only one conclusion.'
I desperately hid my surprised face and looked at So-hee.
A stunning beauty.
A cursed fate.
A man with the ability to save that fate.
Although it's not the most popular genre these days, there is one game genre with this grammar.
The game I was possessed into.
'So-hee. Were you the heroine of a martial arts dating sim?'
A thrill ran through me as I realized this fact months after meeting her.
With So-hee's heart visibly breaking in real time right in front of me, there's no time for prolonged thought in this blatant situation.
Let's organize this quickly.
I am the Noble Person.
It means that since I overcame the fate of Kang Yun-ho, the Joseon good-for-nothing who should have died, and am alive, I gained the conditions to romance the heroines in this world.
'I can change So-hee's fate.'
I thought she couldn't be a heroine because of her unchangeable fate. But her fate can be changed because of me.
So-hee is a woman who can become a heroine.
'Is So-hee the true heroine?'
The possibility is high. But I can't be blindly certain.
If the Noble Person's ability, as described by the Heaven's Diviner, is to change others' fates, then it could potentially apply to other female characters too.
Of course, that's only a possibility.
Whether So-hee is the true heroine or not, I need to solve her problem now.
The range where the Heavenly Slaughter Star's killing intent disappears is shrinking. So-hee seems unaware of the reason, but I can guess it immediately.
'I met So-hee too early.'
The ending conditions for this game are the Fame stat and the Money stat. Even if you clear all the heroines and stories, if your stats are insufficient, you can't see the romance ending.
I met her without gathering the stats needed for So-hee's route.
'For the Heavenly Slaughter Star, the important stat is probably Fame, right?'
Since I was penniless when I first met her, it must have been my fame from being well-known in Chilgok County that made So-hee's killing intent disappear.
The problem is that the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star likely wasn't satisfied by merely being famous in a small county like Chilgok.
'I need to do what I can now.'
I can't raise my Fame stat right this moment.
I need to search for a solution with So-hee, and if there isn't one, at least console her.
I need to lift her up, as her heart is breaking.
Because you can't do anything if you just collapse.
"So-hee. If you need to kill while your reason is lost to the Heavenly Slaughter Star's killing intent to satisfy the inner bloodlust, how about trying that?"
The best solution I can think of right now. How about subduing some bandits to placate the killing intent?
"Yun-ho. I told you. If I lose my reason to the killing intent this time, I might not be able to return to myself again."
"You said I was a Noble Person, right? Even if you lose your reason to the killing intent, if I approach you, wouldn't you be able to regain your senses?"
"What if I can't return? What if it fails? Then everything is over. I could become not myself forever. The insane me could kill you, Yun-ho."
"I spoke too lightly."
I thought it might be possible if it was just losing reason to the killing intent. But if it's a situation where the personality itself changes, it might be impossible.
"No. I know Yun-ho is always worrying about me. Don't be sorry."
So-hee slumped onto the garden floor, knees up, and buried her head. She always takes that pose when she's worried or troubled.
It is a desperate situation.
I want to console her, but what should I say?
"Yun-ho. How about returning to Joseon?"
While I was agonizing, So-hee spoke again.
"To Joseon?"
"Yes. You board a ship, and I see you off. You'll gradually move farther away, right? Even if I'm consumed by the killing intent in that state, you'll be out on the sea. Even if I go insane, you won't be killed by me. You'll live receiving hospitality from people in your hometown, and... when I, when I, am killed by someone... then you can return to the Central Plains. How about it?"
A tearful quality could be felt in So-hee's voice, as if she might cry at any moment.
For a moment, I was speechless.
It's not easy to guess what resolve she must have to say such a thing.
Going insane is so frightening, yet she says it's okay to go insane if it can save me.
"So-hee. Look at me."
"...No."
So-hee buried her head even deeper.
"I also have a secret to confess to you, So-hee. So please look at me."
So-hee carefully looked at me.
A flushed face. Eyes that look like they'll spill tears any moment.
The feeling of a lifeline from heaven, cut off in a desperate situation. That must be how she feels.
I can't be her lifeline right this moment.
But, you know.
I can use the plan I saved to lift up a girl like this.
"So-hee. My family. The people of the Kang Family. They're all dead."
I spoke calmly while looking at her with sad eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
So-hee spoke to Yun-ho with a trembling voice.
"By any chance, were you ever curious why this former rich family young master was working as a storyteller in the Central Plains, looking like a beggar?"
"I was, but I couldn't ask."
At first, she was only curious about her own past, and later, she didn't have the courage to probe into his private matters while keeping her own secrets.
"So-hee. My family. Our Kang Family was exterminated for treason."
Yun-ho looked at So-hee with a sorrowful smile.
"Treason?"
"Yes, treason. The men of the Kang Family were all executed by beheading, and the few women were taken as slaves."
One side of his face contorted as if in pain. An expression never seen on him, who always showed a gentle face to her.
His face now, his suffering face,
'Is like me imagining that day.'
Didn't he also have an experience similar to, or even more horrific than, hers?
"You called me a Noble Person, So-hee. No. So-hee. I'm not something like a Noble Person. I'm not a Noble Person, I'm a sinner."
"A sinner?"
"On the day I learned my family was all caught up in treason. I used my family's help and cowardly means to flee to the Central Plains. A Noble Person because I escaped a fate of death? How can someone who cowardly survived while his family died be called a Noble Person? How, how can I be a Noble Person?"
Yun-ho laughed as if he'd heard a truly funny story, holding his stomach. But Yun-ho's eyes weren't laughing at all. Instead, tears were welling up.
It's dangerous.
"Yun-ho!"
So-hee jumped up in surprise, as if asking when she had ever been sad, and rushed to Yun-ho's front.
A world without hope. She had confessed that he was her only hope.
Instead, it had touched his wound.
"So-hee. So-hee. The feeling of being left alone in this world, you know it, don't you?"
Yun-ho embraced So-hee without hesitation as she ran to him.
Yun-ho's trembling chest. So-hee couldn't even guess how much he must have suffered inside. But she knows that feeling of loneliness well.
"Yes. I know. As much as you do, Yun-ho."
"Right. You would know, So-hee. The sorrow you and I know best in this world."
"I've been tormented my whole life."
"I thought about just dying too. But, you know. Being left alone in this world. If even I died, it seemed like there would be no one left to remember my family. What kind of life should I live? While agonizing over that, the stories my family liked came to mind."
"Stories?"
"My family really liked the stories I told them. So I decided to become a storyteller. I thought that if I spread the stories they liked throughout the Central Plains, they would continue to live and breathe through my words."
"So that's why you became a storyteller."
"So-hee. In my life, I've buried countless people in my heart. ... You were among them too."
"I'm alive."
"Yes. You're alive. Everyone who remembered me is dead. But you were there, So-hee. You can't know how happy that made me. Really... you can't know."
Yun-ho hugged So-hee tightly. I don't want to lose you. So-hee felt she could sense Yun-ho's heart.
"Yun-ho."
That day. The day she doubted Yun-ho and pointed a sword at him.
On the contrary, Yun-ho was so glad to see her. Because he knew there was someone left in the world who remembered him, that's why he was so glad.
Only now did So-hee understand Yun-ho from that day.
"So. So-hee. Please don't give up. Just as I am the only one who knows that Cheon So-hee of Joseon is alive. Now, you, So-hee, are the only one who knows that Kang Yun-ho of Joseon is alive. If even you die, then I..."
"Yun-ho! No!"
So-hee imagined what terrible choice he might make.
"So promise me this, okay? That you won't give up. That we'll look for an answer together."
"Okay. I won't give up. I'll look for an answer."
Even in a moment soaked in sorrow and uncontrollable, he worries about her.
She thought only she needed Yun-ho, but he needed her too.
There is a reason to live.
Though the situation is desperate, there is a reason to struggle.
"So-hee. Go inside first."
After roughly acting as if my emotions were sorted out, I released the hug and spoke to So-hee.
"Will you be okay?"
"I'll just get some air and come right in."
"But still."
"You had your alone time too, So-hee. I'll just take a short walk in the garden and come in."
"Okay. Come in quickly."
So-hee bid farewell like that and went into the lodging.
'I barely managed to calm her down.'
It was originally the final plan I saved for a situation where the Heavenly Slaughter Star would suspect and try to kill me.
I never thought I'd use it at a timing like this.
I should be satisfied that I used it well as a plan of shared suffering. Thanks to it, she seems to have regained her will.
With a somewhat heavier heart, I strolled through the garden for a while.
'As long as she doesn't go insane right away.'
I don't know when the time she might go insane, even if she's next to me, will be, but it's probably not right now.
If I write books quickly and work hard as a storyteller to raise my Fame stat, then So-hee might be able to stay by my side continuously.
"Huh?"
While pondering future plans and walking through the garden, I unexpectedly ran into a person.
"Hey. You. Turn around."
'Why do I keep running into her?'
The person I ran into was Dang Hwa-rin, who was strolling through the garden without wearing a veil.